|
| Smoke-free housing |
|
Public Health is a partner in the Portland-Vancouver metro area Smoke-free Housing Project. Together with the American Lung Association of Oregon and the health departments in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties in Oregon, the project helps eliminate involuntary secondhand smoke exposure in multi-family housing. For more information, please call (360) 397-8000 ext. 7378.
How do I find a non-smoking unit?
There are many resources available to help you find smoke-free rental housing:
Secondhand smoke
Secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS), also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mix of smoke coming from the end of a burning tobacco product and smoke exhaled by smokers. This complex mixture has more than 4,000 chemicals, 50 of which are known to cause cancer in humans. The 2006 Report of the Surgeon General confirms that secondhand smoke is not only dangerous, it's a killer. In early 2005, the California Air Resources Board identified secondhand smoke as a toxic air contaminant. Both of these agencies warn that no amount of secondhand smoke exposure is safe.
People exposed to SHS are more likely to develop a host of preventable diseases including lung cancer, coronary heart disease, and breast cancer, especially in younger, primarily pre-menopausal women. Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke is responsible for approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths and tens of thousands of coronary heart disease deaths among people who have never smoked.
|
|
|
